Measure 45

Well, as I mentioned, we've voted on term limits before, so I figure most people will vote this time the same way they voted last time and it's not worth arguing about.

But I don't buy the argument that if term limits passes a bunch of old, experienced lobbyists will be leading the newbie congressmen around by the nose. If the lobbyists really believed that, they'd be sitting on the sidelines quietly hoping for term limits to pass. They're not. They're spending thousands of dollars to fight the measure. Obviously they've got those old, experienced legislators well trained and they don't want to lose their investment of time and money.

I'm not sure we want skilled, experienced lawmakers anyway. It depends, I guess, on how you measure the productivity of the legislature. If you measure it by the quantity of new laws they crank out, the number of new programs they create, and the speed with which they burn through our tax dollars, then you definitely want an experienced, professional, ruling class. Personally, I'd feel safer with a bunch of rank amateurs.

And finally people say that term limits on the other guy is alright, but our guy's doing a good job and we want to keep him. It's not a "three terms and you're out" measure, it's "three terms and you move up". Six years in the House, eight years in the Senate, then run for Governor or U.S. congress or whatever. The politicians can adapt to it, plan to train replacements, get the new guys going, and move up the ladder. If they can't manage that, they can always get a real job.